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Manhattan Family Justice Center CORE I & Advanced Training Offerings

The Manhattan Family Justice Center announced its next round of CORE I trainings. The CORE training series is a learning opportunity for service providers, community leaders, and city agency staff who are working with populations directly or indirectly affected by intimate partner violence, sex trafficking, and/or elder abuse.

All the CORE trainings listed below are free and will take place at the Manhattan FJC, 80 Centre Street, 5th Floor Training Room, New York, NY 10013.

To register for a CORE training, click here.

Intimate Partner Violence Dialogues
Monday, June 3th
10:00 – 12:00 PM
Facilitated by: Arab-American Family Support Center & Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence

Cultural conversations
Monday, June 3th
1:00-3:00PM
Facilitated by: Arab-American Family Support Center

Elder Abuse
Thursday, June 6th
2:00 – 4:00PM
Facilitated by Carter Burden Network

Risk Assessment & Safety Planning
Thursday, June 13th
2:00 – 4:00 PM
Facilitated by: Safe Horizon

Engaging Trauma Survivors
Monday, June 24th
10:00 – 1:00 PM
Facilitated by: Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence

Intimate Partner Violence & the LGBTQ+ Community
Monday, June 24th
2:00 – 5:00 PM
Facilitated by: Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence

Sex Trafficking
Wednesday, June 26th
10:00 – 12:00 PM
Facilitated by: Safe Horizon

The Manhattan Family Justice Center also announced its next round of Advanced Training offerings for May and June. All trainings are FREE and provide professional development for service providers, community leaders, and City agencies on relevant topics regarding intimate partner violence, sex trafficking and elder abuse. All the Advanced Trainings listed below will take place at 80 Centre Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10013.

To register, click here.

Thursday, May 30, 10:00am-12:00pm, Tech Abuse
Facilitated by National Network to End Domestic Violence

Thursday, May 30th, 1:00pm-4:00pm, Conducting a Nuanced and Holistic Assessment in Intimate Partner Violence Cases
Facilitated by Steps to End Family Violence

Thursday, June 6, 10:00am-1:00pm, Consumer Law
Facilitated by: CAMBA

For more information, questions about the registration link, or to add any colleagues to the MFJC trainings list, please email Indhira Castro at indhirac@fjcnyc.org.

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AABANY’s LGBT Committee Hosts a Roundtable Discussion On Negotiating The Experience of Being Both LGBT and Asian American

On March 5, 2019, the AABANY LGBT Committee held a roundtable discussion titled: “Transactional Identities: Navigating the various contexts of coming out for Asian American lawyers.”  

Presenting were Connie Montoya, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP; Janice Jabido, IP Counsel, Pratt & Whitney; and Tony Thomas, Chief Legal & Labor Relations Officer, City University of New York – Brooklyn College.  

Dennis M. Quinio, Manager of Diversity & Inclusion, Milbank, LLP, moderated the discussion.  

Our esteemed presenters jump-started the conversation, sharing their experiences being LGBT and Asian American within the legal profession, their families and their communities at large.  They discussed the struggles of being in the closet; the dynamics of coming out to colleagues, clients, and family members; and strategies for overcoming day-to-day challenges such as microaggressions. Several Asian American LGBT attorneys from private practice, government and the nonprofit sector attended the discussion and shared their experiences in this confidential space, meant to foster a candid and supportive dialogue. We heard about others’ experiences harmonizing identities that may seem to be in conflict and explored how living our “authentic” selves can impact our effectiveness at work.

The law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton graciously hosted the event. At the beginning of the roundtable, Sandra Flow, Partner and Chair of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion at Cleary, delivered warm welcoming remarks, affirming the firm’s commitment to supporting diverse attorneys.  

If you would like to join the AABANY LGBT Committee or learn more, email John Vang at jvang@cfal.org.  

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AABANY Presents: Legal Seminar for Small Businesses

On Friday, May 17, 2019, Sandra Ung, New York State Committee Woman, and Chris Kwok, AABANY Board Director, Issues Committee Chair and Asia Practice Committee Co-Chair, presented a legal seminar for small business owners at Flushing Library. The speakers were Tiffany Ma, Young & Ma, LLP, and William Ng, Littler Mendelson P.C., and they addressed a wide array of issues faced by small business owners in both Mandarin and English.

The discussion centered around how small business owners can take steps to make sure they comply with Federal, State, and City employment laws to avoid liability. In particular, the speakers addressed the minimum wage requirements, the importance of maintaining unemployment insurance, the prevention of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment claims, compliance with ADA accommodation requirements and the New York State Paid Family Leave Act.

There was serious discussion on the pressures small businesses face within the legal regulatory framework, with the additional language and cultural barriers faced by first generation immigrant business owners.

The event was also covered by the World Journal and Sing Tao Daily. To read more about the event from the World Journal, click here. To read more about the event from Sing Tao Daily, click here.

We thank Sandra Ung and Chris Kwok for organizing this information session. We also thank the speakers, Tiffany Ma and William Ng, for volunteering their time to address the concerns of small business owners.

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Congratulations to Judge Pamela Chen

Congratulations to Judge Pamela Chen, U.S. District Court Judge at the Eastern District of New York, on being honored by the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association and the Asian American Judges Association of New York during an Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration held at the Brooklyn Bar Association building at 123 Remsen Street in downtown Brooklyn on Monday, May 13. We were joined by many State and Federal Court judges who came out to celebrate with Judge Chen. We even had a lion dance, which may have been the first time this Chinese tradition was observed at the Brooklyn Bar Association.

In 2012, President Obama nominated Judge Chen to serve as a Federal District Court Judge in the Eastern District of New York. The United States Senate confirmed her nomination on March 4, 2013, and she became the first Chinese-American female Article III judge outside of California and the second-ever Chinese-American female federal judge in U.S. history, continuing to add to the rich legacy of the Second Circuit and New York State.

As AABANY Executive Director Yang Chen Stated: “During May, we celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and it is a most fitting tribute that we recognize and honor a distinguished jurist like Judge Chen, who has been a champion of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Judge Chen has been an active AABANY member for many years, and we proudly followed Judge Chen’s path to the bench and her rise over the years, and congratulate her on this well-deserved honor.”

Please join AABANY in congratulating Judge Pamela Chen.

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Gallery Reception in Recognition of Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

In honor of Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is hosting an art exhibit, “Flaneur in New York,” that features works from seven Korean artists at her office located at 1 Centre Street, 19th Floor.

The event and organized by the AHL Foundation, Inc. in support of Korean artists living in the U.S, and is curated by Jin Young Coleman.

The reception will be on Monday, May 20, 2019, from 6:00 to 8:00pm.

The reception free and if you would like to attend, please RSVP online at aapiheritage.eventbrite.com.

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Kimberly Ong Quoted in The New York Times

Kimberly Ong, Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council and AABANY member, was recently quoted in The New York Times after regulators in New York denied an application for a $1 billion natural gas line due to environmental impact concerns.

Kimberly Ong declared, “The state has made it clear that dangerous gas pipelines have no place in New York.”

To read the full article click here.

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MFJC Advance Training Announcement

NYC Family Justice Center, Manhattan (MFJC) Advanced Training Offerings: May-June 2019

The Manhattan FJC is excited to announce our next round of advanced training offerings. 

Please click here to register for each training you are interested in attending. All training is FREE and provide professional development for service providers, community leaders, and City agencies on relevant topics regarding intimate partner violence, sex trafficking and elder abuse.

Thursday, May 30, 10:00am-12:00pm, Tech Abuse
Facilitated by National Network to End Domestic Violence

Thursday, May 30th, 1:00pm-4:00pm, Conducting a Nuanced and Holistic Assessment in Intimate Partner Violence Cases.
Facilitated by: Facilitated by Steps to End Family Violence
Thursday, June 6, 10:00am-1:00pm, Consumer Law
Facilitated by: CAMBA

All trainings take place at: 
80 Centre Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10013

Space is limited. Please bring a photo I.D. and plan to arrive 15-20 minutes early to avoid security delays.

For more information, questions about the registration link, or to add any colleagues to the MFJC trainings list, please email Indhira Castro at indhirac@fjcnyc.org.

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Congratulations to Hon. Lillian Wan, Recipient of the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Diversity Award

On Wednesday May 8, the Brooklyn Bar Association held its annual meeting on Wednesday and honored nine members of the local legal community during a ceremony at the Brooklyn Bar Association building on Remsen Street. AABANY is proud to note that its member, Hon. Lillian Wan, received the Diversity Award. Read the full article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle here.

From Yang Chen, Executive Director:

“AABANY congratulates Justice Wan on being honored with the first-ever Diversity Award from the Brooklyn Bar Association,” states Executive Director Yang Chen. “We have followed Justice Wan’s path to the bench and her rise over the years, and we commend the Brooklyn Bar Association for recognizing her with this well-deserved honor, recognizing her role as a trailblazer in the Asian American community and as a champion of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and the community.”

Read the full AABANY press release here.

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Join AABANY in Supporting Portrait Project 2.0

A recent Law360 article entitled “Why Are Law Clerks So White” reported:

Take any five federal law clerks, and at least four of them would probably be white. And nobody can be certain why.

California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu has some guesses about the reasons black, Asian and Latino lawyers are largely shut out of these prestigious positions that can turbocharge a lawyer’s early career. But he says it’s impossible to pinpoint reasons or patterns because so little data exists.

“We actually don’t even know the most basic things about those opportunities,” Justice Liu told Law360. “It would be interesting if we could know even basic things, like do women judges get more women clerks? We have impressions of that, but we don’t know with any precision whether these things are true.”

The article went on to talk about how Justice Liu plans to address these questions in Portrait Project 2.0. AABANY is supporting this research as a Silver Sponsor. AABANY challenges its members to donate to Portrait Project 2.0. AABANY will match member donations up to $5,000. Join AABANY in advancing the work of Portrait Project 2.0. Read more at https://www.aabany.org/page/PortraitProject20

To read the full Law360 article go to https://www.law360.com/articles/1156019?utm_source=ios-shared&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=ios-shared

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Thank You to our May Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

May’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic, held on Wednesday, May 8 at 33 Bowery Street in Confucius Plaza, brought out 14 lawyers and 6 interpreters who volunteered their time to help 15 clients.

We are asking every member to actively support AABANY’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic by making donations that are vital to its continuing operation. In a few short years, with the tireless and generous assistance of our volunteers, we have helped hundreds of low-income clients with free legal advice and referrals to high-quality, culturally sensitive, and linguistically competent legal services. Together we have helped expand access to justice for underserved Asian American New Yorkers.

If you know family members, friends, or businesses, such as your firm, who would like to support the Clinic, please help us connect with them by contacting Karen Yau at karen.yau@aabany.org.

Or please urge them to make a donation directly. They can visit the website of Asian American Law Fund of New York (AALFNY), AABANY’s 501(c)(3) affiliate: https://www.asianamericanlawfund.org/donate/ AALFNY is accepting charitable donations on the Clinic’s behalf and can issue any donor a tax receipt. Any contribution, large or small, would help. Please be sure to indicate in the memo field that the donation is intended for the Pro Bono Clinic.

Thank you to all of the May Pro Bono Clinic Volunteers!

Lawyers:

Christopher Chin
Francis Chin
Thomas Hou
Mayumi Cindy Iijima
Satoshi Kurita
Chris M. Kwok
Eun Hye (Grace) Lee
Beatrice Leong
Nelson Mar
Samantha Sumilang
Annie Tsao
Anna Jinhua Wang
Shengyang (John) Wu
Jiayun Zhang

Interpreters:

Carteneil Cheung
Tianlin Liu
Ruth Poon
Serene Su
Laura Tsang
Hao Zhang

Special thanks to Kwok Kei Ng and Zhixian Liu for coordinating the clinic, and the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee Co-Chairs Karen Kithan Yau, Judy Lee and Asako Aiba for their leadership.

If you are interested in volunteering at future Pro Bono Clinics, please contact Asako Aiba at asako.aiba@aabany.org. AABANY’s Monthly Pro Bono Clinic occurs every second Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

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